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Changes in store for Colorado Eagles

Stewart looking to find winning ways

By Adam Dunivan Sports Writer

Posted:
01/08/2013 10:11:53 PM MST

While the second half of the ECHL season begins tonight for the Colorado Eagles, it's looking like a different side to the approach of each and every opponent is going to accompany the shift toward April's playoffs.

With the team's record standing at 17-16-1-2 through the first 36 games of the season, head coach Chris Stewart is tired of the excuses. He's missing several of the guys he recruited in the offseason, and the latest blow to the team has captain Riley Nelson out for the rest of the season.

So, for the first time in the team's history, Stewart is implementing a shift in philosophy. Not just for a single opponent, like Stockton tonight for example, but perhaps for the rest of the season.

Jason Beatty

"We want to be stronger defensively, and we're going to score goals off of, hopefully errors that we create and not so much us scoring off the rush and things like that," Stewart said after practice on Tuesday, the team's first since returning from a 1-5 road trip. "If we've got to change and adjust systems so that it's not quite the high-risk, high-reward team that we're used to seeing out there, and it translates to wins, so be it. I'll adjust.

"I've had to switch systems before when we've come up against certain teams, but we've always been able to come back around to what we're used to doing. An overall change in philosophy during a season? No, this is new for us."

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The team hopes it helps create a surge from fifth place in the Western Conference to perhaps one that gets a home-ice playoff series. There is a big gap between it and the fourth-place Thunder (heading into tonight's contest with 45 points) and a 20-point chasm to conference-leading Alaska.

At the same point in their inaugural year in the ECHL (2011-12), the Eagles had three more wins and 44 points.

To not just keep up but excel through the rest of the year, the focus will be on gearing toward better defensive play and creating more turnovers.

"We can change some things that are under our control, and those things are stronger defensive hockey, making sure our specialty teams are working better ... the areas of detail, we've ascertained and now we have to make the changes necessary to fix those problems," Stewart said. "That's a mouthful, but that's where we're at."

The teams that stand in the way of the Eagles right now have been successful on both sides of the puck, with Alaska, Idaho and Ontario ranking second, third and fourth in the ECHL in goals against per game. Right now, the goal is to join those teams.

But it will take five-man units working in unison, veteran defenseman Jason Beatty said.

"Stewie's going to take a little bit of a different approach to tighten up our end a little bit and make things easier for us getting the puck out," Beatty said. "After you play good defense, the offense usually takes care of itself. You take it upon yourself as a five-man unit -- you want your wingers on the points, your centerman helping out the d-men, and the d-men in front of the net. You've got to communicate and work together to get that puck going to opposite direction."

The Eagles may not have the same amount of high-caliber players than they did at the beginning of the year, and free agent signings at this point into the season don't typically turn into stars. Colorado has added Devin DiDiomete in recent weeks, and on Tuesday announced they had signed Fort Collins native A.J. Hau for a second go-round with the squad.

Players may continue to filter in. But for Stewart, the job is to take and mold the current crop.

"I think when you get into the depth of the lineup, you can start to question on whether or not you have the right guy at that position. Again, the point is, if he's not quite up to snuff, we've got to find a way to get him there," Stewart added. "If it's manpower where the issue is at, we've got to find a way to squeeze out a little bit more from our best, and just a little bit more from those that are our 'lesser-likes'."

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